Ultrasonically sprayed aluminium-doped zinc oxide layers for transparent conductive oxide in thin film solar cells

Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films have been deposited on glass substrates using ultrasonic spray deposition whilst varying the operational parameters. Electrical and optical properties were investigated as a function of the deposition parameters and the optimum conditions were defined. The optimum parameters result to films with a sheet resistance of ~6kΩ/□ when they are as deposited and to ~1kΩ/□ for annealed films in vacuum. The resulting transparency ranges from 80 to 85% for optimum films.